Tiger Woods celebrates 30: give him a break

So Tiger Woods gets to celebrate his birth-month. The rest of us usually get only a day to celebrate, or mourn, our birthdays. Woods is taking almost the whole month of January to ease the pain of turning 30, probably on some secluded Caribbean island with his svelte, Swedish wife.

I’ve heard some criticism of Woods for not playing the Mercedes, reserved for PGA Tour winners. I say, stop your belly-aching. It isn’t like he needs the money, and he can probably give the rest of the field a one-month head start and catch up without breaking a sweat.

This isn’t like a high-priced quarterback holding out of training camp. Woods can fall out of bed and beat the best in the world. Give him a break. You only turn 30 once.

Agreed and Agreed. This way, someone other than Tiger is guaranteed a return trip to the Merc next next year. I want to see Tiger beat Jack's record, and when I'm 75, I want to see some other young dude destroy Tiger's record. I love seeing Annika ravage the LPGA tour, and I think it will be great to see her continue to do it against the next-generation trio of lasses. Greatness never gets old.

Obviously the Mercedes format needs to be revamped. Perhaps it needs to be more like the ladies' Samsung. Tournament winners in the previous year can be guaranteed an invitation--but the tournament organizers need to be free to put together an interesting tournament if the champions won't show up. The tournament of champions is supposed to be able to get Tiger, and if a PGA tournament in Hawaii can't get Tiger, it should be able to invite Michelle Wie.

Tim McDonald blogs about his travels to golf hotspots such as Florida, Myrtle Beach, Pinehurst, Hilton Head and the Gulf Coast (including his search for great barbecue joints along the way). He also follows Tiger Woods' path through PGA history.